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Yet Bush continues to fund with federal dollars these types of program.  More than $1.3 billion dollars to be exact since 1990.

Experts, (not social conservatives) such as the American Public Health Association and the US Institute of Medicine have agreed that abstinence only programs taught to teens are counterproductive.  

“Some of these programs are even harmful and have negative consequences by not providing adequate information for those teens who do become sexually active” says Dr Margaret Blyth of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The POINT should be to teach kids that abstinence is the most effective way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in addition to available forms of contraceptives and STD prevention.

17 of 50 states currently refuse to accept federal funds for such “abstinence only” programs.  Good for them.  Representative Henry Waxman of California said “We are showering funds on abstinence-only programs that don’t appear to work, while ignoring proven comprehensive sex education programs that can delay sex, protect teens from disease, and result in fewer teen pregnancies.”

What people (abstinence-only advocates) would like to believe and what actual is are two very different things.  What IS, is that one in four teenage girls has an STD and 30% become pregnant before the age of 20.  What all this money is going to, is to fund and educate those who are already being taught abstinence in their homes, in their churches, etc and alienating/ignoring those who need education because they’re going to have sex anyhow.  Church and State… keep em separate.

When analog TV converts to all digital in less than a year portions of the wireless spectrum will become available.  As such, the FCC just concluded an auction of this spectrum (the most valuable portion referred to as the 700 MHz C-Block) with Verizon being the big winner, and AT&T being the second in bragging rights.

Verizon paid nearly $10 billion for the largest piece of the pie and just released their plans to use it…

Below is their footprint/penetration prior to auction…

Here is what their footprint/penetration is POST auction…

Both Verizon and AT&T have announced plans for “open access” to their networks (which was also a requirement brought to the table by Google and forced by the FCC) which means that you’ll likely see many more very cool handsets.  Verizon has traditionally been the worst at allowing/preventing unlocked handsets to access their network.  That will all change by 2010 when their 4G (LTE, Long Term Evolution, supported by GSM governing body) network rolls out based on this new spectrum acquisition. 

No longer will you be tied to a specific provider because you want a specific phone/device.  You’ll see a lot more sophisticated gadgets which can connect to these new networks coming to the market.  In Asia their mobile handsets are much more advanced than ours because they aren’t restricted to getting the support of a service provider PRIOR to hardware manufacturing due in large part to a global wireless standard/protocol (GSM) which allows any handset to work with any service provider.

With wireless penetration like this, ambient devices which rely on always on, always connected technology will proliferate.  GPS and location based devices and applications will dominate the marketplace.  Imagine Internet connected cars able to stream your music from your home PC to your mobile handset… to your office computer… without interruption.  Internet connected cars which will alert you when you come within a barrier or trigger of 1 mile of the least priced fueling station… or your favorite ice cream is on sale at the grocery store you’re driving towards, or there’s a coupon for happy hour at a restaurant you’re approaching…  When everything can be connected, the possibilities are endless for what can be broadcast and received by anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Recent Gallup Poll… Clinton would do more damage than Obama.  Republicans REALLY REALLY don’t like Ms. Clinton, and they just (one) REALLY don’t like Mr. Obama.

Called polycephaly meaning two heads but a singular body…  The as of yet unnamed baby born a few weeks ago has two entire faces, one brain, one body.  Born in a small villiage in India where the average daily wage is less than $2 USD per day, the parents are refusing free medical treatment and/or CT/MRI scans to see if the child has any complications.

I wonder if the eyes work in sync or anything… like both right eyes and both left eyes work together?  Or the mouth(s)?  Can you feed her in either mouth?  Does she get one name or two?  She has one brain but could one face go to sleep and the other be awake?  Or one cry and the other not?

Naturally, some are saying she’s the reincarnation of God Ganesh, half person half elephant.  Dunno where THAT prophecy is written, but whatever.

Earlier this week, genius Ronald Long from Deepwater Missouri was having a hard time installing his DirecTV.  He couldn’t seem to get a hole through the exterior wall from his bedroom.  He pulled out his trusty .22-caliber gun and shot through the house.

Unfortunately, his wife, Patsy Long (34) was on the other side and received the second of the two bullets in her chest.  She died prior to getting to the hospital.

Officials are still trying to determine if manslaughter charges should be brought.

The Department of Justice, Antitrust division, after a YEAR, finally released a statement that they find no objection to the merger of the only two satellite radio companies.  It’s now up to the FCC to approve.  This has been a huge challenge since they announced plans to merge a year ago.  Terrestrial radio lobbyists are tremendously threatened and have tried to strong-arm legislation to prevent this from occurring. 

The merger should be approved, for sure.  Neither company will survive alone and if they aren’t allowed to merge, one will cease to exist and there will only be one left anyhow.  I have Sirius and love it… I haven’t listened to terrestrial radio in about a decade anyhow.  90% of the time I listen to CDs in my car, the other 10% is with Sirius.  I don’t know who would put up with 20 minute blocks of commercials on the radio anymore.  Who cares that it’s “free”

I don’t think I’ve posted about this before but I keep forgetting that I contribute through this charity all the time and am reminded every few weeks when I get a package in the mail with all these pictures and cute handwritten notes from students (I received two packages today)…  Then  I realize that in an Ambien stupor or something I logged on to the website and donated some more and then forget, then the mail comes… it’s a never-ending cycle.

So here’s how it works… DonorsChoose.org is a front for teachers from under-funded and (largely) poverty stricken schools to post requests for funding for various types of things that will benefit their students.  DonorsChoose.org validates there are no other funding sources available, qualifies the request as legitimate, identifies demographic data, makes the request and transaction very transparent and posts the requests to their website.  You then fund all or part of the request until it’s 100% funded.

So your thinking, yeah, big deal.  I’m sure we’ve all given a few dollars to starving kids in Africa or the American Heart Association or Breast Cancer or something and figure our money is used to feed kids, fix hearts and eradicate cancer.  I’m sure it does.  Well, where DonorsChoose.org is different is that you earmark your money (as little as $10, to $1,000+) to fund specific projects you find worthwhile.  In addition to THAT, when the project is fully funded… DonorsChoose.org goes through the process to procure whatever it is and send it to the school with a disposable camera and instructions for the teacher and students to take pictures using (whatever) and write you (the single or multiple donors) a personal note of thanks.  Reading these notes are half the fun.  It’s the same concept as Sally Struthers getting you to adopt a “kid” and sponsoring to feed them and inoculate them and they send you specific information on that kid you sponsored.  It’s HIGHLY effective in retaining and attracting potential donors.  At least it’s worked for me.  To date I’ve entirely or partially funded 15 different projects.  I prefer to find projects I can fund entirely because I just like that better, but I’ve topped off several nearly funded projects where there were multiple donors. 

So what type of things can you fund?  I bought 10 lap white-boards for “special education” middle-school kids in Chicago so they could learn reading and math skills.  Some counter things for 3-5th graders in a gifted school in LA so they could learn math better.  Bubbles for pre-K kids in Illinois (78% of this particular schools population is in “high poverty”).  Some rulers for 3-5th graders (87% in “high poverty”) in Brooklyn… Software “Garage Band” for some Raleigh, NC kids to learn music composition and tons of other stuff both practical and “fun”.  Below is a summary of how what I’ve contributed is spread across grades and focus areas (Literacy, Math, Art & Music, etc…).  As you can see, I like the art/music stuff the best.  So here’s the point.  GO FIND A PROJECT TO DONATE TO!  IT’S FUN!  DonorsChoose.org

There are some VERY funny letters but this one was handy… apparantly this student isn’t well liked.  It’s funny to see what slips in the notes they send.  Some pretty random stuff!

“President Bush would authorize waterboarding future terrorism suspects if certain criteria are met,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said this morning, one day after the director of the CIA for the first time publicly acknowledged his agency’s use of the tactic, which generally involves strapping a prisoner to a board, covering his face or mouth with a cloth, and pouring water over his face to create the sensation of drowning the Washington Post reported.  They made the distinction that waterboarding is not torture… it’s an “enhanced interrogation technique”.

Torture is as torture does in my opinion, and waterboarding is torture.  It’s always confused me how Republican’s are generally assumed to be religious conservatives and religious folk generally adhere to a concept that God’s is the only one who can affirm the worth of their soul, not man… yet a fundamental position of the GOP seems to be mortal man’s inalienable right to put to death a criminal and that our weapons and warmongering should always be the first line of defense against any threat.    Ad Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (after this, therefore because of this) is a Latin phrase which speaks to “false causation” insomuch that you can’t always assume that that because 1 + 2 = 3, that 1 causes 2 to add to 3. 

One would assume that those positions or actions of putting to death a criminal, and being eager to annihilate opposing countries/views through force and war would mean that those who hold to those notions have a lack of moral values/beliefs…  a lack of which which speak to a devaluation of individual human life.  One would also assume that those who abhor the actions of the death penalty and believe in political posturing as primary solutions to conflict would hold moral values defined or encouraged by a belief in a deity which values every human life.  Ad Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc…  Neither assumption can be made… These types of “actions” don’t roll up to a “cause” in a particular belief systems…. and that’s what’s so very odd about it (in my opinion).

CNN is reporting that a 16 year old Louisiana boy had suicide plans to hijack an airplane and crash it into a Hannah Montana concert.  He’s been arrested by the FBI and there is no report on how the airline became aware of his intentions.